


I Would Have Followed Him

by creativeone298



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Jesse is an ARC trooper in this but it's not listed under his number
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6750712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creativeone298/pseuds/creativeone298
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rex comforts a devastated Jesse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Would Have Followed Him

Jesse’s shoulders heaved and he wiped his face with the back of his hand. He knew he should not cry; clones don’t cry, they’re better than that, they’re built stronger, they don’t react like this to the loss of their brothers. However, no matter what he said to himself, the tears kept coming, and now the tent door was unzipping. He hurriedly rubbed the tears off his face and got ready to yell at whoever decided to open up his tent at this absurd hour.   
“Hi, Jesse, long time no--Jesse, what’s wrong?” Rex asked, immediately stepping into the tent and zipping it shut.   
Jesse shook his head and turned away from Rex.  
“Listen, I know something is wrong. Talk.”  
Jesse slowly turned toward Rex and sniffled, wincing at how weak the sound was. “It’s Kix.”  
Rex nodded; Kix had disappeared about a week ago without a trace, and he’d felt the sting of that loss as well. Kix had been a good medic, and a the others in the legion had been following his example for treating battlefield wounds. Rex sat by Jesse as he kept crying, more softly than he had been before he came into the tent.  
“I just don’t know. Why didn’t he tell me he was going?” Jesse suddenly burst out.  
“Going?” Rex asked, not quite able to follow.  
“You know well, Rex, we were on the Laqwane homestead too, and we’ve all thought of it since then. It’s dirty and wrong, but we have thought of deserting,” Jesse said sharply.   
Rex trusted Jesse enough to admit that he had thought of such a thing before. “Yeah, we all have. It’s strange; Kix seemed like he loved his brothers too much to desert.”   
Jesse kept crying and Rex put an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in close. Jesse needed the contact now, to know that one of his brothers was here for him. He felt Jesse shaking, and he didn’t say anything in that moment; he didn’t need to. He wrapped his other arm around him and started rubbing his back. Jesse only cried harder, but his sobs eventually reached a lull.  
“I would have followed him,” Jesse whispered, hugging Rex tightly, “If Kix had asked, I would have debated it with him, but when Kix has an agenda, he doesn’t stop, and I would have figured out a plan to make it look like we died in battle so we could disappear into the outer rim, live together somewhere, and somehow get the credits, and Kix could have been happier. I would have been happier if I was with him.”  
Rex stiffened in shock. Jesse, who loved the Republic as much as his life was freely confessing all of this to him. It might have been the delusions of a man who just lost a friend, it might be his real thoughts. Rex wouldn’t report him. He might have right after he had become a Captain, he might have in the beginning of the war. But this was three years in, he had seen so many die around him, and Jesse had lost so much that Rex couldn’t blame him for considering it.   
“I hope you let go soon, Jesse,” Rex murmured back, squeezing him tighter.  
“I-I’m going to let go if you squeeze the air out of me like that, Captain,” Jesse hiccupped, laughing.   
“Can’t have another brother lost,” Rex half-joked, but both of them were on the same wavelength and laughed harder than they should have.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to add that they talked into the night and fell asleep next to each other, but the line didn't feel right. I thought you should all know.


End file.
